Today we’d like to introduce you to Evan R
Evan, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I would have to start by saying that talking about myself is not one of my strengths…focusing that idea around how I got started with my business idea however, is a bit easier to explain.
I was told I’ve had a love for spicy foods since I was in the womb(ask my mom). My first memorable experience was around third grade with a family friend over some hot wings at a local spot, and something about it just connected with me, and I was hooked. In college I started toying with the idea of making my own hot sauce, creating flavors I hadn’t had or seen before(some were great, some…needed tweaking), and eventually I just shelfed the hobby entirely because I didn’t have the vision yet.
After working for a composting company(so that I could go to music festivals for free) I started to pay more attention to the food waste we generated in the jobs I took after that. I never really felt like I found my place.
Then one day while working a remote software job I actually enjoyed due to the work life balance it provided, I found my old notebook with those original ideas, and decided to start growing my own peppers. I ran into the same problems most, if not all, novice gardeners run into. I felt like I had to use more fertilizers and pesticides and knowing those weren’t the best route to take I turned to composting my kitchen scraps and learned a ton through doing that. One of the first people I was selling my hot sauce to actually introduced me to O-Town compost and their business model, so I reached out to them to learn if they planned on servicing my area. They said they weren’t so I saw a window of opportunity. So what does this have to do with my hot sauce? Glad you asked.
When I first started selling my sauce I kept having this negative thought that even if I did decide to jump through all the necessary hoops to share my creations with a larger audience, the market for hot sauce was already saturated enough and my products wouldn’t stand out no matter how yummy I or anyone else might think they were. So I decided to think of a way to make myself stand out. I would close the loop on my business, add that aspect of sustainability to the brand ya know? Set their taste buds on fire with the flavor, but warm their hearts with the cause behind the sauce.
As hot sauce is a secondary food item, I applied that same idea to my business. I don’t have to chain myself to one brick and mortar spot, I sought to be an exciting addition to something people already know and love. So I began going around to different restaurants and offering tastings, and flavor pairings with their existing menus. My thought was that if I can get them to have their customers try it, and get them to showcase my product in their store I could reach a wider audience than just setting up some little tent at a farmer’s market. I could cut cost on having people sample it because it’s already paired with a dish. I’m not aiming to steal any revenue from the business, so I incentivize the business to display by giving a more than fair price on their orders for their kitchen and a percentage of the profits made from the bottles sold at their location. On top of all that, I am collecting their food waste and diverting it into the soil of local growers such as myself just like O-Town Compost is doing. Same problem, just attacking it on a different front with a slightly different weapon
I have been chipping away at, and sculpting this dream into a reality for a little over a year now with no help. I am just a one man operation. Doing everything from website/social media content creation, gardening, food waste collection, farmer’s market attendance, setting up restaurant tastings, collecting used hot sauce bottles to sanitize and reuse, etc. and only just recently have acquired a location to scale up my composting so that I can offer my services to more restaurants and residents. I feel like I’m headed in the right direction, but at the end of the day I want the same as any other man trying to provide for his family wants. Which is(among many other things), to be able to put food on the table that actually contains the nutrients they need not only to survive but to thrive. Simply put, I’m just getting started.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has not been a smooth road. If I had to consolidate my struggles into three categories they would be: Time, Definition, and Patience.
One of the main struggles along the way has been redefining what it means to be a provider. I have no shame in taking on a job that is barely rewarding for the work that’s put in, gaining more pains than you get paid for, and I’ve done that more times than I would like to admit. Where I am currently though, is due to the work that I put in before. I am not a provider in the old-fashioned sense. I have taken on the atypical role of being a stay at home father. After I was laid off from my software job, my wife, previously a graphic designer, gave me the luxury of being a manual labor hardworking sun up to sun down man by staying at home with our child for the first two years along with going to school to get her degree. This allowed me to develop the skills I needed to keep our house in order, and once she finished school, I saw to it that I would provide her with that same luxury so that she could pursue her career.
This struggle has been a bit more ongoing due to the necessity for patience. Patience not only with teaching my child how to be good at being a great human in this world but also in pursuing my own dreams of becoming a glorified garbage man/sauce master.
Having patience with my family took time. I never felt like I had enough time to accomplish any of the projects necessary to get the ball rolling because I was so mentally busy trying to find a way to blame my other life roles for holding me back so I made the time. I started getting up earlier than anyone in the house in order to quiet the thoughts that circled each of those roles. I overcame these mental struggles by redefining my thinking of each of my roles. I started dropping any unnecessary habits and beliefs just so I had some more room to breathe. I started making sure I accomplished what the “dad” in me would complain about, tackled the tasks the “husband” in me pretended to dread, all so that the dreamer in me had room to play.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
What do I do? I run a closed loop sustainable hot sauce company that currently specializes in doing way too much for way too little, but ya gotta start somewhere.
What sets my company apart is the active and ongoing effort in diverting unnecessary food waste away from the landfill by converting it into compost, growing the ingredients for our sauces that are then packaged with recycled materials collected from restaurants and residents in the area. If we don’t grow it ourselves, we gather it from other local growers within 50 miles. I also individually paint each of the bottles after they’ve been sanitized and filled. This extra touch ensures that no two are the same.
I am most proud of how much impact this idea is having on my child. At only two years old, she already understands more about cooking, composting, and marketing techniques than any regular two year old should. She encourages me everyday not to give up. She reminds me when we need to tend to the compost pile, gathers sticks in the back yard to use for(as she puts it) “the swampdog sauce on the smoker”. I know how cheesy that sounds but it’s true. I couldn’t be more proud of her if I tried.
Do you have recommendations for books, apps, blogs, etc?
Carlos Castenada’s “The Teachings of Don Juan” series had a profound effect on me when I read them, and still apply some of those ideas to this day. It focuses on the path to becoming “a man of knowledge”, and the four enemies one faces along the way.
When I need an escape, I like to read fiction. No particular authors, kinda open to anything. I feel like this allows room for creativity via the inspiration of someone else’s ideas.
When it comes to apps, I mainly use YouTube. My feed is mainly comedy, gardening, and DIY stuff depending on the project or repair(mainly so I know what tools to apply to the situation before starting).
I listen to comedy podcasts, podcasts about other dads doing dad stuff, and other composters/entrepreneurs.
Pricing:
- Small 5oz Bottle of Sauce: $15-17.99
- Large 12.5oz Bottle of Sauce $18-21.99
- Initial Food Waste Collection Setup fee: $35(includes bucket)
- Weekly/Bi-weekly/Once-a-month Collection $15-35(depending on selection)
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.swampdogsauce.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/swampdogsauce/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61556287532859
Image Credits
Vianka Ratzlaff
